Lighthouse Masculine Birthday Card, Part 11 of Recent Cards

This may be one of my all-time favorite cards--and it's for a guy. Amazing! I usually struggle so hard to create something that looks masculine.

After getting my white 5 1'2" by 4 1/4" card base, I added a brick red mat (5 3/8" x 4 1/8") and a black one that is 5 3/16" x 3 15/16". Then I went to the Elegant Edges Cricut cartridge and and started with the E. E. equivalent of the Top Note which I cut at 4 3/4" in a brick red cardstock. I also cut the shadow in white. The lighthouse stamp is from Studio 112. I stamped it with black and also inked the edges and rounded the corners. Looking for something masculine and somewhat nautical, I took three strands of thin jute and braided them, placing the cord below the lighthouse. After stamping the sentiment, I curved the ends using a circle punch. Before placing the frame onto the card, I put it on foam tape and also added two small black brads. As I said earlier, I really this card. I hope you do, too.

"To Everything ... A Season" Card

The latest scripture card features Dee's art from Ecclesiastes 3:1. It's done in fall colors and uses a frame from Elegant Edges. I used a leaf punch and some burlap "ribbon" as accents. Hope you enjoy it. Stop by and visit Dee's blog at www.deesbbboutique.blogspot.com. I love hearing your comments.

Flowers and Friends Scripture Card

This second scripture card also features Dee's word art. Take a look at her blog, www.deesbbboutique.blogspot.com, and see her great work. The card uses both Elegant Edges and Country Life. I like the "old world" colors and the cheery scripture sentiment. Hope you do, too.

The video--Turquoise, Navy, and Lime Birthday Card

Here's the how-to for the "Turquoise ..." card. Part 10 of my challenge features Elegant Edges (I couldn't skip it), and uses the layout from Freshly Made Sketches." Try your hand at this method of using chalks. I think you'll like it. Thanks for your views and comments.

Happy Birthday in Navy, Turquoise, and Lime

This is my entry for the Casual Fridays challenge.  The flowers are stamped in white, then chalked over the white to help them stand out from the navy. Elegant Edges cut the frame and shadow. I also stamped the border print. Cuttlebug Swiss dots give texture to the mat and border. The sentiment is computer generated, cut with a window punch and place on ribbon and a mat. I really like this color combination, although I have to admit, I was skeptical.

"Heavenly" Beach card

It's summertine, and to many people, a day at the beach is like a little taste of heaven. This is part 8 of my "Use My Cartridges" challenge. The featured one today is Everyday Paper Dolls. This cartidge has so many cute extras to go with the dolls. I couldn't resit the beach chair and the umbrella. Hope it brings summer to your thoughts.

"Heavenly" Beach Card

Who doesn't love a day at the beach? This "heavenly" card is my entry for the Freshly Mades Sketches #45 challenge and the Fabulous Fridays one-word title challenge from Frosted Designs. The card features a beach theme, using "water" paper and yellow to represent the sunshine. The video for how to make the card will come shortly. Hope it makes you think summer.

"It's a Girl" card

I liked the combination of Beyond Birthdays and New Arrival in the "It's a Boy" card so much that I decided to make another card, this time for a girl. This is a slide out card that is also a gift card holder. I'm beholden to a Youtube video for the idea--particulars given in my video. Hope you love this little girl as much as I do. Please leave comment.

Another Long, Lean Gate-fold

This 4 1/4" x 9" gate-fold is like the birthday one in the latest video. I added one extra mat (the white one, 1/8" larger than the yellow), but the size dimensions and the other pieces are the same. It has the bright colors of summer and some small buttons to highlight its summery theme. Hope it makes you feel warm all over. If you tweek the tall envelope on the Plantin Schoolbook (8 1/4") using the Gypsy or Design Studio, you can get it to fit onto a 12" x 12" paper and make a nifty enclosure for your snazzy creation.

Gate-fold Birthday Card

A break from the A2 card. This one is a long and lean 4 1/4" x 9" gate-fold type.  It has three frame cutouts along the center and a couple of party hats to kick off its birthday theme. Hope you enjoy it and that it conjures up some creative ideas for a tall and skinny tri-fold in your near future.

Birthday Card Using Paper Piecing

While I was in stamping mode, I pulled out a favorite "oldie" and created this bright birthday card. The gift stamp works for weddings and Christmas as well and is easy to use as a pieced paper design. If you have stamps that have open spaces in them, paper piecing adds a new dimension to stamped images. Have fun with this idea.

Pocket album, like the one from Mary at Cardztv

Thanks so much to Mary for her great ideas and videos. This album is my take on the one she did before Father's Day. I hope it inspires you to create your own.

Today's cards are two using the same photo, once in color and once in black and white. I used one from Printmaster, but you could use one of your own and make the card even more personal. These cards also combined a sketch, #39 from Freshly made Sketches, and ideas from the May issue of Cardmaker Magazine.  Have fun with photos. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Have a great day.

Baby Boy Mini Album

Another reason to love Cricut's Elegant Edges--the Book Feature.  Using cardboard, cardstock, papers, and miscellaneous embellishments, you can create a purse-sized album like this one for a newborn boy.  Have fun coming up with great ideas

Wedding cards!

Tis the season for weddings, and the wedding card bug has hit.  The first one is a Z-fold done in purple, black and white.  Its dimensions are 4 5/8" x 6".  The hearts are from the Sweethearts cartridge.  The video will be coming tomorrow. 

The second is a more elegant design done in black, gray, and white.  It's a shaker card that has beads and small punched hearts in the window. The wedding cake was stamped on silver vellum with Colorbox charcoal chalk ink. The card is 4 1/4" x 5 1/2".  All of the frames on both cards were created using the Elegant Edges Cricut cartridge--probably THE cartridge I'd miss the most if I ever had to give it up.

Happy upcoming June to everyone.

The latest video, just in time for Mother's Day. Hope it gives you inspiration as you create for that special Mom in your life. Thanks for watching.

Don't you love diagonals!

After seeing a card in a Cardmaker Magazine from a couple years ago, I became enamored with the idea of mats that were cut on the diagonal. The watermelon card from the first video I made used the diagonal. Here are two others that I've done recently. Both use coordinating double-sided papers from a stack of 5 x 7 papers called A Family Affair by Momenta.

Here's an Easter card done in burgundy, gray, and yellow. The Bible verse from Matthew is superinscribed over the word RISEN. I used my computer and Printmaster to generate the sentiment. The card is 5 x 7. The cross and mat are from the Inspired Heart cartridge from Cricut. I hope this sparks your appreciation for diagonals and renews your awareness of Christ's sacrifice.

This card is for my mom for Mother's Day. She loves violets. I stamped the large image in Color Box Charcoal ink on light yellow and used some shimmery chalks from Oriental Trading to fill it in. Using the center point feature on my Cricut and the Elegant Edges cartridge, I cut the image out at 2 1/2". The purple mat is 3".

For the strip at the bottom, I started with a piece of purple that was 5" x 1 3/4". I scalloped the edges with a Fiskars punch and did the same thing with a narrower piece of yellow. Using just one violet from the larger stamp, I stamped both ends of the yellow piece and colored it with chalk. The word MOTHER is another stamp done in Versa Magic Eggplant chalk ink. The green mat is 1". Small gold beads in the center of each flower complete the card. My mom will really appreciate it (and save it). I hope you like it too. Have a wonderful Sunday.

Fruitful Wishes Card Set

Welcome to Card Collectanea. Today's video is different in that it includes more than one card, but they are all assembled. Each one has a unique sentiment, but the designs are based around a theme. I used the Cruicut Preserves and Elegant Edges cartridges. Hope you enjoy them.

Here's a video for a card that we all wish we never had to send--a sympathy card. I wanted it to have a heartfelt message and muted colors. Hope you like it. Don't forget to leave me a comment and become a follower.

Soccer bi-fold card

A bifold card which has three stamped soccer balls mounted on red Elegant Edges frames on another white square frame.  The inside sentiment reads, "Have an all-star birthday."